Hi everybody and welcome back. I first want to say: Wow! Thanks for all the nice comments to my last post. I'm so glad that you like the Dirndl that I sewed for my daughter for the Roots Sewing Series. What? You don't know what I'm talking about? Then check out my last post (there's also a fun giveaway waiting for you!). Today I want to show you how I altered the bodice pattern piece of the Vroni-Dirndl by Mondbresal to get the kind of Dirndl that I was going for. You don't necessarily have to have the Vroni pattern, but could do this with any basic bodice pattern piece of a dress (e.g. this free one by the cottage mama: party dress). However, you will then also have to change the neckline.

Here you can first see what the pattern looked like before I altered it. The Vroni Dirndl pattern features a button closure in the front. I've indicated the mid of the front bodice. Also note that the original pattern has a dart.

Now you have your new pattern that you can use to "play". I made the neckline a little bit more rectangular. If you are using another bodice pattern as your basis you will have to take the neckline down to approximately the have height of the pattern.

Now I had to take care of the dart and to split the front bodice pattern piece. To do so I first split the 1cm wide dart in two smaller ones of 0.5 cm. One of these I took of at the side seam and one at the seam between middle and side panel. I'm not sure if that's the right way to do it, but it worked. If you use a basic bodice pattern without darts, you won't have this problem anyways...

... and pin it to your fabric. Your front middle panel will now be cut on fold! If you are using the Vroni Dirndl (or for that matter any other German or most other European patterns) make sure to add your seam allowance (not at the fold!) and cut your pattern pieces of both main and lining.

A short summury how you'll go on sewing (always press seam allowances apart). I don't have pics for this as I didn't really come up with this on my own.:1. For main and lining so the side parts of the bodice (front and back) to the middle panels. Add piping if you want to.2. For main and lining sew shoulder seams.3. Lay main and lining right sides together and sew the neckline (add piping if wanted). At the curves: Cut perpendicular to the seam to get everything lying flat.4. No it get's tricky: The arm hole (lining to main, RST) will get sewn in two steps. Starting that front side seam sew towards the shoulder, then start at the back side seam and sew to the shoulder. This will be a mess especially for the front part, but it somehow works out. Cut at the curves to get everything lying flat.5. Sew the skirt to the bodice (after gathering it to the width of the bodice!). Serge or zic-zac the waist seam and the sides of the Dirndl (from the arm hole to the hem).6. Aaah, the zipper: Full concentration, please: First sew the left side seam with a long straight stitch (for the length of the zipper), then sew the rest of the seam with a normal stitch length. Press seam allowance apart and open the part for the zipper again. Pin the zipper to the skirt. Fold the seam allowance at the top of the zipper behind the seam allowance of the side seam. Now sewing: From the top of the zipper to the bottom, then across the zipper and back up at the other side of the zipper. Now the waist and the end of the zipper should meet at both sides of the zipper. That didn't work out for me. I unpicked the right side of the zipper and instead sewed downwards again. That way I had more luck. 7. Sew the other side seam.8. Serge or zic-zac the hemline, fold it to the left side and topstitch it in place.
9. Done! You just sewed a Dirndl! Congrats!

Additionally I want to show you how I added piping and lace to the neckline of the blouse. I firstly prepared the piping using the tutorial by the Cottage Mama. On the pic it seems as if I used a zic-zac-stitch, but this is just because I used a long stich length for basting and the stiches aren't as firm as with a shorter one. The self-made piping I then sewed on the lace (make sure to sew left of the original seam of the piping) and cut it's seam allowance down to the width of the lace.

Then sew again left from your last seam (the one that connects lace and piping). When you are done, flip the piping and lace to the left of the blouse and topstich it in place. Done. Clap yourself on the shoulder...

Thanks Brienne, I'm enjoying your tutorials a lot, too. I'm a big fan of the flashback skinny tee just like you. Though I mostly just use the "normal" version. It's the perfect basis for birthday tees...